Yesterday, ventureLAB’s Hardware Angel Network (HAN) was featured at Elevate, Canada’s premier tech and innovation festival, during a roundtable discussion led by founding member Yuri Navarro, an experienced investor, adviser at ventureLAB and the founder of Kanata Ventures. Navarro was also joined by fellow Hardware Angel Network member Raymond Chik, Co-founder & Consultant at Untether AI.
The roundtable discussion offered a unique perspective on what hardware investors look for when making investment decisions. Members highlighted the importance of insights and analysis into the due diligence process that investors conduct when evaluating start-ups in hardware and deep-tech. For example, looking at revenue as a determinant of valuation and understanding the founding team’s track record and expertise.
Navarro also highlighted the importance of recognizing that fundraising for hardware start-ups is different than for traditional SaaS companies, giving key advice to founders on how to approach the process, including understanding your competition and putting yourself in the shoes of the investor.
Furthermore, the roundtable focused on the Hardware Angel Network as a funding resource currently available for Canadian hardware start-ups, guiding founders looking to raise capital in this exciting and constantly evolving space.
“It’s not easy to get to the revenue stage, you need a few years of bootstrapping, and angel investors can be particularly risk averse at that level. We need to be more inclusive of these kinds of companies and that’s why the Hardware Angel Network is so good. We are building a group with a long time horizon that understands the requirements of deep tech investing,” said Navarro.
Powered by ventureLAB, the Hardware Angel Network is a deep-tech-focused investor network made up of over 30 members backing up Canadian pre-seed and seed-stage startups. The goal of the network is to offer vetted and curated investment opportunities of high potential to support foundational companies that aim to improve our world.
If you are a hardware or deep-tech start-up looking to raise investment in the Pre-Seed to Series A stage and are interested in applying to the Hardware Angel Network, please fill out the application form here. Meanwhile, if you are an angel, VC, family office or angel group investor and are interested in becoming a member of the Hardware Angel Network, please visit the following link.
About ventureLAB
ventureLAB is a leading global founder community for hardware technology and enterprise software companies in Canada. ventureLAB’s initiatives focused on raising capital, talent retention, commercializing technology and IP, and customer acquisition have enabled thousands of companies to create over 5,000 jobs and raise more than $340 million in investment capital. At ventureLAB, we grow globally competitive tech titans that build-to-scale in Canada, for global markets.
About Hardware Angel Network
At the Hardware Angel Network, we are improving access to capital for Canadian deep-tech and hardware companies by bringing together a community of aligned investors. We are creating the largest community of hardware and deep-tech investors in Canada.
